The present invention relates to a plug for containers of liquids which are meant to be evaporated to be used as air fresheners and/or elimination of insects, or similar applications, which plug is complemented by a wick which passes trough it axially, with part of said wick submerged in the liquid contained in the container and another part emerging on the outside, through which the product contained in the container may evaporate.
The object of the invention is to provide a plug which prevents refilling the container by having means which allow an axial mounting as the wick is introduced but prevent its extraction or its reuse. That is, one of the main characteristics of the plug is that it is provided with internal elements which allow axial displacement of the wick in one sense and prevent displacement in the opposite direction, in order to prevent extraction of the wick once mounted in the plug, thereby preventing refilling of the container with a liquid other than the original, as said plug is of the type which are permanently mounted on the neck of the container, so that it cannot be separated.
There are a number of devices or means used to evaporate air freshener liquids, whether to provide a pleasant atmosphere in a room or to fill said room with a product which attacks insects in order to eliminate them.
Among these numerous systems employed there is on in which the discharge of the liquid of the container takes place through wick mounted on a plug coupled to the neck of the container, is that one end of the wick is immersed in the liquid contained and the other end emerges out to allow the liquid to evaporate.
This type of plug may be permanently mounted on the container neck, so that it is practically impossible to remove it without breaking or deforming it, thus preventing a subsequent correct coupling of the plug on the container.
However, the wick, which is generally mounted on an axial orifice of the plug, may be easily mounted and removed, allowing the container to be refilled with a liquid other than the original once this is exhausted, resulting in a reduced safety as this new refilled liquid, other than the original, may be harmful if used as intended, such as by being inflammable, toxic, corroding plastic or electric components, etc.
Furthermore, if the wick may be separated and coupled at will on the plug a serious problem arises, namely that children may remove the wick attracted by the pleasant smell of the liquid contained, not only possibly placing the wick in their moths, with the ensuing risk as these products are often toxic, but even ingesting the contents as the wick has been removed from the plug.
A protection device is known for wicks through which evaporation of an air freshener takes place, described in Patent WO 98/00177, in which the plug is attached to a plastic cap which covers the outer part of the wick, so that the wick is well protected by said cap, preventing children from sucking it or ingesting the liquid in which the wick is soaked, and thus the cap must be removed by suitable means and by an adult in order to leave part of the wick exposed to allow evaporation of the liquid in the container on which the plug is coupled, which obviously does not eliminate the risk that once the container wick is exposed by removing the cap, a child may extract the wick and ingest the contained liquid.
The disclosed plug has been designed to solve the above described problems by means of a simple yet considerably effective means, based on providing means which prevent the wick from being separated or removed from the plug, thus preventing refilling the container to which said plug is applied.
More specifically, the plug of the invention, in the conventional manner, comprises an annular body with a neck directed inwards, with the top edge retained, corresponding to the container neck, with the plug mounted permanently on said container neck, with the characteristic that said plug has a concentric neck which emerges and is prolonged axially inwards, with a number of slits along the main line, which define sectors meant to embrace and press on the wick, which preferably consists of a cylindrical body which passes through said axial passage of the plug, so that the internal part with sectors which embrace and press on the lateral surface of the wick is complemented by a further concentric neck with a slightly larger diameter, also provided with slits parallel to the main line, which press on the previous ones when the plug is coupled to the container neck.
In order to prevent the wick from being extracted, that is, moved so that it is separated from the plug, the aforementioned sectors defined in the axial and inner neck which press on the lateral surface of the wick are provided with triangular, or semi-pyramidal, projections, with their vertex located in an internal or lateral surface of each sector, so that the lateral surfaces of said projections diverge inwards, defining ramps which allow the displacement of the wick in one direction but prevent motion in the opposite direction, that is, they prevent removing the wick once it is inserted in the plug except by a strong effort applied on said wick, which would cause it to break and made useless, so that the plug would be also ruined as it requires a corresponding wick to allow the contained liquid to evaporate. Thereby the main characteristic is achieved, that the plug is made unrefillable, with the ensuing advantages, such as preventing the container from being filled with a liquid other than the original and preventing children from removing the wick and ingesting the contents.